The National Marine Aquarium is launching an impressive series of home learning sessions for children all across the UK from tomorrow.
With schools having been forced to close their doors due to England’s third national lockdown amid the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic, children up and down the country have once again reverted to home learning programmes, leaving parents often searching for new and innovative ways to keep the little ones occupied and educated at the same time.
This is why the National Marine Aquarium in Plymouth is keen “to make sure we are doing our bit to support the thousands of students and teachers that connect with our charity each year” through providing live-streamed sessions.
According to the aquarium, research has shown that encounters with marine environments (physical or virtual) have a powerful effect on our emotional state and general wellbeing, and with the country in lockdown, there’s never been a more important time to ensure everyone has access to “a weekly dose of ocean”.
The National Marine Aquarium’s Home Learning Sessions are completely free, and will be streamed live to homes across the UK through YouTube every Friday starting tomorrow, until 26th February.
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They are the perfect way to “round your week off with a bang, or help you wind down for the weekend”.
Well, first up is the weekly ‘Deep Science’ lessons – aimed at KS2 Primary School-aged children – which will see aquarium teachers meet some of the centre’s amazing animals, as well as stopping in at the AquaLab to explore the science behind the animated ocean exploration TV series The Deep – which is on CBBC every weekday at 12pm during lockdown.
Every Friday at 1pm – 1:20pm, you can expect to learn some fascinating facts and watch real-time experiments, as well as being provided with some curriculum-linked ideas to follow up with at home.
Tomorrow’s session is intriguingly titled ‘Underwater Volcanoes’, with other sessions set to include:
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22nd January – Creature Classification
29th January – Nautical Navigation
5th February – Ocean Mysteries
12th February – Megafauna
19th February – Life Cycles
26th February – Looking After The Ocean
Looking for something for the little ones instead? Fancy meeting a real mermaid?
The ‘Mermaid Tales’ sessions – geared towards Early Years-aged children – let you do just that, as the National Marine Aquarium’s resident mermaid Marina will read a short story to everybody tuned in, and the sessions will be live-streamed every Friday at 1:30pm – 1:45pm, it’s the perfect timing before an afternoon nap, or as a gentle, relaxing start to the afternoon.
National Marine Aquarium
Each of the Home Learning Sessions will also help children to feel part of the start of the global UN ‘Decade of Ocean Science for Sustainable Development’, and will assist with home learning, whilst also providing a chance for children and their parents and teachers to gain some of the wellbeing benefits that have been proven to come from watching aquatic life.
Speaking on the launch of the Home Learning Sessions, Nicola Bridge – Head of Conservation Education and Communications at the National Marine Aquarium – said: “Despite the continued COVID-related restrictions we are all under, our suite of accessible online resources will help those home schooling get access to valuable resources and interactive activities.
“The UK is a national and global leader in marine science, and we feel ocean related teaching should therefore be an essential part of the core curriculum offering and want to help facilitate that.
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“We also want to support parents and teachers in this difficult time for everyone.
“The ocean provides half of the oxygen we breathe, drives the weather and climate and is a valuable food source for much of the world, and to look after it for future generations, we need to create an ocean literate generation – that is to say, a generation that understands the ways in which we are all inextricably connected to it, just as it is to us.”
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You can find more about the Home Learning Sessions via the National Marine Aquarium website here, and access the sessions every Friday on YouTube here.
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Latest wave of ‘Evening 4’ Ricky Hatton lineup in memory of the legendary Manc boxer announced
Danny Jones
Manchester is set to host a night of remembrance and celebration in honour of the late, great, local boxer, Ricky Hatton, and now a superb second wave of names has been added to AO Arena’s lineup.
Coming this summer, the legendary Manchester arena – where Hatton enjoyed so many of his iconic moments – will be holding the first-ever ‘Evening4Ricky’ later this year.
Held at the legendary sports and live entertainment venue just in time for summer, we still only know bits and pieces about what’s in store, but a whole host of familiar Manc faces, famous British names, and figures from the world of sport have now been announced.
Sharing the news on social media, AO Arena said: “Join us for an unforgettable night of entertainment as Manchester comes together for Evening4Ricky.
“This will be a spectacular, unique celebration of the life, spirit and legacy of one of the city’s most beloved icons – Ricky ‘The Hitman’ Hatton.”
With seats priced at £25, fans are being encouraged to join the early bird sign-up to secure access to discounted tickets.
As you can see, now confirmed for the evening are the likes of Man United legend, Paul Scholes, darts icon Phil ‘The Power’ Taylor, as well as fellow former boxers like Frank Bruno, Tony Bellew and more.
Local band, The K’s, were already confirmed as part of the in-person performances, but now the likes of Manc grime artists Bugzy Malone, fellow UK rapper Tinie Tempah, and The Lottery Winners are joining in, too, alongside loads more live music and entertainment set to be revealed in the coming weeks.
They go on to add: “Hosted at the legendary AO Arena, home to so many of Ricky’s big fights, featuring a superstar cast of legends from the worlds of boxing, music, comedy and entertainment.”
So, we do at least know there’ll be some famous faces coming along to help make it a memorable Manc moment, just a few months on from the city and beyond uniting for his public funeral procession.
Ricky was beloved not only by the Greater Manchester community but was a popular figure and friend to many in the sporting and showbiz industries.
The homegrown ‘Pride of Hyde‘ tragically left us on 14 September 2025 at the age of just 46, but his passing has once again helped reassert the importance of having more conversations around wellbeing, suicide prevention, and most specifically, men’s mental health.
You can find more information and see how to grab tickets right HERE.
This isn’t the only charitable in memoriam event happening across the region in the coming weeks, either, as Mancs will be gathering to pay tribute to another fellow inspiring sportsman.
Rare picture of David Bowie’s legendary one-off gig in Stockport unearthed
Danny Jones
A rare picture taken from the night of the late, great David Bowie’s legendary one-off gig in Stockport has been unearthed by a local whilst digging through his loft.
Imagine having that kind of history just squirrelled away in an attic…
As revealed by Stockport Music Story, after being supplied with the image by David Maynard, the snap was shared more than half a century on from the much-mythologised moment in Greater Manchester music history.
In fact, it was put on display and posted on social media quite literally 56 years to the day since Bowie played his only Stopfordian set on 27 April, 1970.
Maynard himself is featured in the newly discovered photograph (second from the left) and was one of the select and lucky few who were in the room for that very special show.
Organised by a group of teens on behalf of the Stockport Schools’ Students’ Union, the performance took place at the long-gone Poco a Poco music venue and club over in Heaton Chapel.
The storied space hosted many big names over the years – Gerry Marsden, Freddie Starr, Hank Marvin and more – but sadly closed in May of 1987 following a fire.
It went on to become the popular Hinds Head pub, which still serves punters to this day, but once had the honour of hosting a true artistic great and British icon.
For anyone wondering, this is indeed the same night on which David Robert Jones (yes, that’s Bowie‘s full birth name) missed his train home and had to sleep on the railway platform.
Here’s a BBC segment covering the tale back on its 55th anniversary in April 2025.
It may be a small and somewhat curious claim to fame, but native love the legend of it all nonetheless.
As for the other individuals pictured alongside him, Stockport Music Story (SMS) said: “The names of the people we know are David Maynard (2nd left), Roz Wood (3rd left), David Bowie, Bill Frost (2nd right), Stewart Rigby (right).”
They go on to add: “It would be amazing to find out who the other people in the photograph are and what they remember from that night.” We sincerely hope they do.
You can now see the plaque up close and personal at Stockport Station for yourselves and as for SMS’s growing archive of the region’s creative culture, you can find out tonnes more about other pieces of SK heritage right HERE.
Emily Sergeant -
14th January 2021 
